Nutritional link to PMS

January 19, 2009 by East West Healing

Do you find yourself moping around because your life is a waste, your house is a mess, work is demanding, your pants don’t fit, and you might need drugs – it’s just how women ARE at “that time of the month,” right?

Survey says: Wrong.

Through several studies of Dr. John Lee and Weston A. Price, PMS has been qualified as, exclusively, a disorder of Western civilization. In non-industrialized cultures, unexposed to Xenoestrogens (foreign estrogen), highly processed foods, and foods loaded with antibiotics and hormones, the ovulation-to-period phase is considered a time of creativity, insight and personal clarity.

What happened and did mother nature make a mistake? Is there a nutritional link to PMS?

The simple fact that we are composed of everything we ingest it just makes sense that we explore how our nutrition might be playing a role in the root cause of a myriad of illnesses. Conditions associated with this include fibrocystic breast disease, PMS, uterine fibroids, breast cancer, endometriosis, infertility problems, endometrial polyps, PCOS, auto-immune disorders, low blood sugar problems, and menstrual pain, among many others.

The reason women experience PMS is the low levels of progesterone (tranquilizing hormone) at the time of their cycle when progesterone should be at its peak, in preparation of gestation (hence pre-menstrual). This results in estrogen being the dominating factor, leading to a plethora of undesirable symptoms that include but are not limited to the following: bloating, weight gain, headache, backaches, irritability, depression, loss of libido, breast tenderness, and fatigue.

There are several reasons why woman experience decreased progesterone levels. Without diving into the complexity of the hormonal pathways it is very important to consider the fact that cholesterol is the precursor to every hormone in our body! In our society we are brainwashed into believing that eating fat, red meat and eggs leads to coronary heart disease among many other diseases (Well, yes from conventional meats and eggs, but who has done the research on organic meats and eggs!). These are the foods that our entire humankind evolved from! It is quite simple…when you begin substituting your diet with low fat, high processed foods and foods loaded with antibiotics and hormones, you rob your body of essential macronutrients. When this happens, say hello to the common metabolic triggers behind PMS: The blood sugar roller-coaster plus protein and mineral depletion. I would do your research and you will learn that maybe one of the reasons you have a hormonal dysfunction is secondary to having no precursors to produce them!

As I mentioned above, there are several reasons woman can develop hormonal imbalances (ex. stress, birth control pill) but I am also a firm believer in the power of nutrition. This is a great place to begin understanding and listening to your body and its response to what you put in it. Remember “you are what you eat!”

What to do?

1.Take action! Purchase Paul Chek’s book, “How to Eat Move and Be Healthy.” It is a step by step guide to wellness personalized to your needs.

2. Include quality fat and protein (from organic sources) with each meal and eliminate foods that create a stress response in the body (gluten, flour, sugar, table salt) which leads to increased insulin and cortisol release.

Remember …cholesterol is essential for hormone production.

What is important to you is to learn in what ratios are good for you!

3. Have a hormone saliva panel done and begin supplementing with bioidentical hormones. We use Bio-health Diagnostics Hormone panel and bio-identical Progesterone, Pregnenolone and DHEA. Please call to learn more about how you can do this lab in the comfort of your OWN home!

4. Identifying your stressors: Listen to your body, your thoughts and take the time to stop to see what is in front of you. A lot of the time we are too busy for ourselves and we do not tune into our body and mind when it is communicating with us. In order to acknowledge what parts of your life are controlling you, you have to take the time to be present. Stop foucing on what was and what could be. Life is about the journey!

Thank you for that, but my question is: Is your comment coming from a place of compassion (for the better of others) or from passion (to build your business secondary to you selling cleanses)? Thank you for sharing!